Hulda Stumpf

Some apparently unusual injuries on her body suggested to the governor of Kenya at the time that, before or after smothering her, her killer(s) had genitally mutilated her, although a court concluded that there was no evidence she had been killed because of her opposition to FGM.

[3] In October 1906 she applied for a position as a missionary with the Africa Inland Mission (AIM), describing herself in her first letter as "forty years of age ... and not very rugged looking," but in good health.

The chief occupation for the men is herding goats; the women do the gardening, wood chopping, carrying of heavy loads, etc.

Nevertheless, Robert argues, as an agent of Western culture Stumpf represented a significant "challenge to daily life" in Africa.

James Karanja cites a letter Stumpf wrote in June 1916, asking that only plain dresses be sent from the United States for the Kikuyu girls, without "tucks, ruffles, piping, etc."

The concern, Stumpf wrote (possibly relaying objections, rather than expressing her own), was that the Kikuyu would be "dressed better than white children.

"[14] Female genital mutilation (FGM) was regarded by the Kikuyu, Kenya's main ethnic group, as an important rite of passage between childhood and adulthood.

[17][18] A memorandum by the Church of Scotland Mission described it, in or around 1929: The medical issues apart, the missionaries objected to the sexual nature of the ceremonies.

[21] The Times of London reported in February 1930: "The young girls represent an economic asset to the parents and, in the eyes of the tribe, their value is completely lost unless the rites are performed.

"[22] There were rumours among the Kikuyu that the British wanted to stop irua so that they could marry the unmutilated girls and thus acquire Kenyan land.

Edward Grigg, the governor of Kenya, telegraphed the British Colonial Office on the first day of the inquest to tell them: "Medical evidence shows that Miss Stumpf was circumcised in brutal manner and died under the operation.

"[41] The Times reported in February 1930: The medical evidence discounted any theory of rape but inclined to the view that certain unusual wounds were due to the deliberate mutilation such as might have been caused by the use of a knife employed by native [sic] in the form of tribal operation.

[42] According to the Africa Inland Mission, the British government had for the previous ten years fingerprinted all black Africans employed in the area by white people.

The court found that there was an innocent explanation for the presence of the fingerprints—he might have entered the house after the murder, but before the police arrived—and concluded that there was no evidence that Stumpf had been killed over her opposition to FGM.